We get that a lot of you follow K-looks – to a T, but how about adapting them to our skin tone and features? Here, we show how the four latest K-makeup trends can be inclusively ours.
POWER NUDE SHIMMER LIDS
The Koreans have moved from barely there shimmer to highly pigmented ones – worn only on the inner half of bare eyelids. Since it’s a K-trend where the end result still makes women look pretty, the colour of the shimmer remains skin-like. “Shades with a yellow or pink sheen, not silvery, are best,” says Rina Sim, the makeup artist behind the looks here. “Champagne and pale gold are good on warmer skin, rose gold for cooler undertones, while bronze shades with a peach sheen are best for dark complexions.”
TRY: Tom Ford Beauty Cream Color for Eyes Eyeshadow, $77. Its two nude shades, a soft champagne, and a warm cocoa, suit most skin tones. It also has a lustrous, metallic shine.— Dress, Pinko. Earrings, Bimba Y Lola.
FULL-ON CORAL
Peachy corals – like Pantone’s 2019 colour of the year Living Coral – have always been hard to pull off on warmer skin tones. So how do we wing coral on eyes, cheeks and lips? “By using a cooltoned, pinky coral that takes away sallowness,” says Sim. “For darker skin – like our model Nametha’s – a deeper, richer, terracotta.”
TRY: Clinique Cheek Pop, $40. This powder blusher can be used as an eyeshadow to recreate a full-on coral look. It has shades, from light to deep, for different skin tones. — Pullover, Sandro.
MATTE, HOT PINK LIPS
Why this is an all-ethnicity winner: 1) “The pink, a fuchsia, is cool enough to complement most Asian skin tones, yet not so cool – like a bubblegum pink – that it washes us out,” says Sim. 2) It’s matte, which = easier to manage and maintain than glossy, as it doesn’t smudge and requires very little touch-ups.
TRY: Lancome L’Absolu Rouge Drama Matte Lipstick in Allegresse, $49, or Shiseido Modernmatte Powder Lipstick in Unfiltered, $46. Both are hydrating mattes. For more hot-pink matte lipsticks, see HW’s digital edition.
“THIN” LASHES
Even Korean women have realised that artificially engineered lashes are a lot of work, and it’s cooler to accept that some of us have scanty, poker-straight lashes. So, dump the extensions and falsies, and bring back the basics – a lash curler and black mascara – for natural lashes.
TRY: Hera Rich Long Lash Waterproof Mascara, $45. It has a long skinny wand to reach inner-corner lashes, and its “curling” formula gives lashes a light, natural lift without clumps. — Hooded cape, Maje.
